They don't stop eating!

My guys just turned 8 months and they are eating 3 meals a day and 2 snacks (fruit, mum mums, cheerios) PLUS 3 8oz bottles a day....not to mention the 6oz bottle they eat around 2am! When will this stop?!

Honestly, Gavin is a thin rail, but eats the most. Olivia eats just slightly less than Gavin but is my chunky monkey. I personally thought that when solids were introduced the bottles (I was specifically hoping for the midnight bottle) would taper off....am I doing something wrong?

 

It depends on their weight. Once they hit a certain weight (I think its 12-15 lbs) than they should be safe to sleep through the night without the need for a feeding.
Yours are def eating way more than mine were at that age...so that's great! You can try weaning their midnight feeding.
Mine were still eating 6oz. So when I decided to wean I went to 3oz for a few nights and then down to two and just one. At that point on of my DD's slept for 12hrs and never turned back. My other DD needed CIO and truly didn't sleep through the night until after 9months (basically until I dropped one of their naps). GL!

 

Ahhh...eating and sleeping! It's the hardest thing to figure out! My boys were sttn at 6 months old. Annabella was 12 months. So on this path called parenthood-I've learned every baby is different! And your boys sound like they are eating way more than Annabella ever did! She was awful to feed solids to. She wouldn't have it. She was definitely on four bottles during the day, and still waking for one during the night.

I did find that the more Annabella got in bottles during the day, the better she seemed to do at night(as well as nap well). Maybe increase their bottles to 9oz? Do you give that last bottle right before bed? It's always tricky. Annabella would go weeks of sttn, and then she would go a few weeks of waking. Drove me batty. But there was only one of her, and she was my last, so I didn't mind it too much! Good luck!

 

first off, you don't want the bottles to taper off. solids at 8 months should be supplemental and their primary source of nutrition should continue to be breastmilk or formula. talk to your pedi if you're very concerned or confused about where their calories should come from.

everything i've read says babies eat as much as they need to eat. if they're eating, they're hungry. if they're not eating, they're not hungry. they may be in the midst of a growth spurt and demanding more calories.

i always had the opposite problem, where i had to beg my babies to eat ANYTHING. i still think they get most of their nutrition from osmosis rather than digestion.

 

I will try the weaning....how long do you think it should take? A few weeks, a month?

I'm completely ok with them eating as much as they want during the day....I will give upping their bottle during the day a try. I am just baffled that they would need a midnight feed considering how much they eat during the day. Olivia will sleep through the night maybe 3 times out of 10.....where Gavin is VERY consistent with waking up everynight at 2am. I have tried to give him just his soother, but that just makes me more angry.

 

If they're actually eating when they wake up in the night and can't be comforted any other way, then I'd say to continue with feeding them then.. my guys needed a night feed until about 9 months and after that they would often just need soothing or rocking to get back to sleep. At that point, we let them CIO because we knew they weren't hungry, they were just waking out of habit. I'd say you're doing everything right with feeding them, and it's great that they are up to 3 meals and 2 snacks already! It's a great habit to get into! My kids really enjoy eating too and it made introducing new foods and meal time really fun for us.

 

You just never know. I had a full feed for one of my LOs until her 10th month. Then she started STTN. I would continue. Especially if they are really active. Our pedi did say at that age though they need to go 6-7 hours before that night feed though. The sleeping gives them time to store up fat cells. If they eat too soon the body just burns the calories as it replaces with new. What time is bedtime with a wake up of 2 am?